05/26/05 - The Men Behind The MuralsBB 05/26/05 The Men Behind The MuralsIO 05/26/05 Ball Bearings Fired At Home Of SF MLA In West BelfastIT 05/26/05 Reiss Concern At Decision To Deny Travel Visa To SFUT 05/26/05 Man In Court Over Omagh BombGV 05/26/05 Reiss Speech Before House CommitteeGV 05/26/05 Statement of Chairman Elton Gallegly – House CommitteeGV 05/26/05 Statement Of Congressman Wexler – House CommitteeBT 05/26/05 Right To Fair Trial Under ThreatIO 05/26/05 Second Raider Dies After Lusk Post Office Shoot-OutBB 05/26/05 Pearse Letter Sold For £500,000BB 05/26/05 Funerals For Victims Of Bus CrashIT 05/26/05 Arts Council To Provide €3m For Traditional ArtsIT 05/26/05 President Calls On Emigrants To Return HomeIT 05/26/05 30,000 Migrants A Year ForecastIT 05/26/05 Diocese Reports Rise In Vocations----

05/08/05 – Ahern To Meet Blair For NI TalksIT 05/09/05 Taoiseach To Meet Blair In Moscow For NI TalksIO 05/08/05 Hain In New Push For Peace In UlsterIT 05/09/05 Hain Will Bring New Impetus To NI PoliticsIT 05/09/05 Deal On North Is Priority For Blair, Says HainSL 05/09/05 Sunday Life Comment: Party Over For TrimbleBB 05/08/05 Hermon Considers UUP LeadershipSW 05/08/05 Remembering James Connolly -LOIT 05/09/05 Galtee Workers Asked To Work For €9 An Hour

Johnston, 39, of King's Road, Belfast and Moss, from Torgrange, inHolywood, Co Down, are both on bail charged with money launderingoffences.

During today's court hearing it was revealed that Gray was renting aproperty from the estate agent, paying £400 cash per month.

Crown Barrister David Hopley told how the accused could not justifywhere the money came from during police interview as it took hisminimal outgoings beyond what he had claimed to be living on.

Gray had said the cash he was allegedly found with came from the saleof two bars he part-owned, the Avenue One and the Bunch of Grapes ineast Belfast, giving him a personal equity of around £130,000, thecourt was told.

Gray claimed to have been able to save a £10,000 deposit for a loan onthe pubs eight years ago when he was earning £150 a week.

But police believe the money he was allegedly stopped with came fromthe proceeds of his criminal lifestyle, the court heard.

Detectives who examined his bank accounts discovered his averagemonthly outgoings for standing orders and other debits came to £1,700a month without taking into account daily living expenses or housingcosts.

During questioning about how he financed his lifestyle, Gray claimedhe got money from "here or there" including help from his family, anddenied using any illegal means, the Crown said.

He also denied any UDA involvement during police interview.

But after his arrest, detectives launched a far-reaching investigationunder the Proceeds of Crime Act that led to the arrests of bothJohnston and Moss.

Searches carried out across Greater Belfast have resulted in around100,000 documents being seized, including a significant amount offinancial material, Mr Hopley said.

He added that around 2,000 separate lines of inquiry were beingpursued, taking police outside the Northern Ireland jurisdiction.

Council offices, planning offices, solicitors, estate agents,accountants and the homes and offices of politicians have all beenexamined as part of the inquiry.

"Gray is central to this investigation therefore police have concernsthat, if released on bail, he may remove or destroy evidence stillbeing sought, or interfere with witnesses," the Crown said.

Defence Barrister Norman Hill insisted, however, that contrary to thespeculation surrounding Gray, of Knockwood Park, Belfast, everythingpoints to him telling the truth during police interview.

He was prepared to live at home and report twice daily if need be topolice in a bid to be granted bail.

Mr Hill, who said Gray's family were standing behind him as he facedthe charges, added that there was no evidence of him ever abscondingin the past.

But the judge pointed out that the accused had never been up on suchserious offences before.

"Careless driving is not normally something to flee the jurisdictionover," he said.

PSNI Badge On Helicopter Will Make Little Difference To Those InMilitarised Areas

Published: 31 May, 2005

Sinn Féin MP for Newry & Armagh Conor Murphy today said that PSNIChief Constable Hugh Orde was living in a cloud cuckoo land if heseriously believes that nationalists and republicans will think thatthe purchase of a helicopter indicates any progress towards anacceptable and accountable policing service.

Mr Murphy said:

"At the launch of the PSNI helicopter this morning the PSNI Chief HughOrde indicated that he believed that this was a step along the road tonormalised policing. He also hinted that the role of the British Armyin policing here would be lessened, a claim later refuted by theBritish Army themselves.

"Hugh Orde is living in a cloud cuckoo land if he seriously believesthat nationalists and republicans will believe that the purchase of ahelicopter indicates any progress towards an acceptable andaccountable policing service.

"In areas like South Armagh Hugh Orde‚s force are routinely carried inlow flying helicopters causing unwarranted and unnecessary disruptionto peoples everyday lives conducting intrusive spy operations from theair. Putting a PSNI badge on the side of the helicopter will makelittle difference to life for those of us living under PSNI andBritish Army militarisation every day of the week." ENDS

Dutch voters are expected to reject the EU constitution today in areferendum that could deliver the final blow to the treaty's prospectsof coming into force.

Final opinion polls suggested that almost 60 per cent of voters wouldreject the constitution just three days after France gave the documentan emphatic No.

EU politicians and officials acknowledged yesterday that a second Novote could derail the process of ratification in other countries.

Denmark's prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, whose country plansto hold a referendum on September 27th, said that EU leaders mustdecide at a summit this month if the process should continue.

"Our starting point is that Danes must be given the opportunity togive their opinion, but it presupposes that the European Councildecides to continue," he said.

French president Jacques Chirac last night insisted that France's Novote to the constitution in a referendum on Sunday was "not therejection of the European ideal".

He said in a televised address that the result was a demand for"action" and "results".

"You are calling for determined, immediate action to respond as soonas possible to the present difficulties, which are unemployment andspending power," he said.

Earlier Mr Chirac appointed Dominique de Villepin as prime ministerfollowing the resignation of Jean-Pierre Raffarin, as a way ofaddressing voter concerns on the domestic issues in France.

Tomorrow the Taoiseach will meet Luxembourg's prime minister, JeanClaude Juncker, whose country holds the EU presidency. The two leadersare expected to discuss the impact of this week's referendums.

Mr Ahern will travel from Luxembourg to Berlin, where he will meetchancellor Gerhard Schröder and deliver a speech on Europe - Ourcommon future - to the Humboldt University.

Irish officials said yesterday that the Taoiseach is unlikely to makeany decision to call off Ireland's referendum on the constitutionbefore the EU summit on June 16th.

Dutch foreign minister Ben Bot yesterday admitted that theconstitution, which has the support of all the country's mainpolitical parties, trade unions and business organisations, is likelyto be rejected.

"We had hoped for a neck-and-neck race (but) . . . it looks as if itis going to be a No vote," he told CNN television.

The Dutch parliament is not obliged to respect the outcome of today'sreferendum but the governing Christian Democrats have promised not toratify the constitution if more than 55 per cent of voters reject iton a turnout of more than 30 per cent.

Latest polls predict a turnout between 42 and 44 per cent.

The low-key campaign was dominated by public disquiet over the size ofthe Netherlands' per capita contribution to the EU budget - thehighest of any member state - and anger over the decision by EUfinance ministers two years ago to allow Germany and France to breakthe rules of the Stability and Growth Pact.

Far-right campaigners against the constitution also appealed topopular hostility to immigration and to moves to start EU membershiptalks with Turkey.

The Dutch EU commissioner, Neelie Kroes, told Volkskrant newspaperthat voters were unhappy with the idea of a constitution for Europe.

"I'd rather talk about a new international treaty. That we're talkingabout a constitution at all . . . is because of the enthusiasm of thechief author, Giscard d'Estaing. He put a nice title on the thingbecause he was in an exultant mood. That exaggerated optimism is nowbeing punished," she said.

The huge scale of the case, which is due to begin in preliminarysession on Monday, June 20th, was revealed when presiding magistrateDesmond Perry said he was potentially faced with "12 boxes of papers"to read relating to the 61 charges against Mr Hoey.

Mr Hoey, a 35-year-old electrician from Molly Road, Jonesborough insouth Armagh, appeared by video link at the court yesterday fromMaghaberry Prison, where he has been on remand since September 2003.

He faces a total of 61 charges, including charges of murdering each ofthe 29 victims of the "Real IRA" Omagh bombing of August 15th, 1998.

He also faces several other serious charges, including "Real IRA"membership and "Real IRA" bombing offences.

Mr Hoey made no comment yesterday other than to confirm his name.

He was remanded in Maghaberry to appear again before the court byvideo link on Friday, June 17th, and to appear personally in the courtfor a preliminary hearing of the case on the following Monday.

The final stage of the M50 motorway is to open to traffic at the endof this month after six years of legal wrangles and protests.

Although the road, known as the South Eastern Motorway, is two yearsbehind its original schedule, the opening date is two months ahead ofits revised schedule, which followed the last High Court challenge tothe project.

The office of Minister for Transport Martin Cullen yesterday said theMinister would open the road officially on June 30th, two months aheadof the planned August opening. The final stage will link up the N11dual carriageway with the other Dublin orbital routes, allowingtraffic to avoid suburban Dublin entirely. The junction nearCarrickmines Castle, the subject of lengthy legal actions, will not beopen until October, however.

Congestion on the M50 is not expected to be greatly improved by thenew section and is likely to worsen in the coming months whenconstruction on new "spaghetti junction" interchanges and an upgradeto four lanes get under way later this year.

First planned in the 1970s, the Dublin C-Ring, which became known asthe M50, has taken a long time to complete.

Plans to begin construction of the South Eastern Motorway stretch in1999 were abandoned after Jackson Way, which owned land atCarrickmines, took a High Court action against the road plan, bringingit as far as the Supreme Court. It abandoned its court action in 2000.

The road was further delayed by archaeological work, especially aroundCarrickmines Castle, which then became the focus of protest byheritage activists who said the site would be virtually destroyedunless the interchange and road were redesigned.Protesters took aseries of successful legal actions over the failure of State agenciesand the Government to adhere to heritage protection legislation inrelation to the site, which led to the introduction of new heritagelegislation last year.

A High Court challenge to parts of the legislation failed lastSeptember, and construction on the full route recommenced.

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Nearly 100 years ago,workers at the Harland and Woolf shipyards here builtthe Titanic, the largest ship of its time.

Harland and Woolf stopped building ships in 2003. Butif dreamers in this still-divided city get their way,a new Titanic will someday grace the shipyard's emptyacres along Belfast's lough. Groundbreaking isscheduled for later this year on the Titanic Quarter,a massive commercial and residential development thatis projected to cost $2 billion, take 20 years tobuild and eventually cover 185 acres of currentlyvacant waterfront. Included in the plans: a $200million dollar Titanic museum that would open by 2011,the centenary of the launch of the 883-foot-long ship.

If it clicks, the Titanic project could provide a homebase for Northern Ireland's growing high techindustries and housing for a middle class that hasenjoyed increasing prosperity since warring Catholicand Protestant factions declared cease-fires in themid-1990s.

But its most ambitious goal can't be measured byconstruction timetables: securing peace by providinghigh-paying jobs for thousands of Catholics andProtestants, including former paramilitary members whofought an inconclusive 25-year war over the province'sfate. On Tuesday, the province's IndependentMonitoring Commission, which oversees the cease-fires,blamed unemployed paramilitary members for an ongoingscourge of robbery and crimes.

Considering the namesake ship's own fate — sunk by aniceberg on its maiden voyage, with 1,517 killed — isthe Titanic really the best symbol for redevelopmentin this war-weary city?

"There was nothing wrong with 'er when she leftBelfast," replies Sammy Douglas, a community worker inProtestant East Belfast who is helping recruit jobapplicants for the Titanic project.

Douglas, 52, comes by his feistiness naturally. InBelfast, he's a rare species: a "Prod," in the city'sunique dialect, who has earned the trust of Catholicswith whom he works on employment projects and defusingtensions between the city's Protestant and Catholicneighborhoods. He walks a fragile line between the twocommunities, using a constant stream of cell phonecalls to maintain his balance.

"We trust Sammy Douglas," says Frankie Brennan, 55, ajobs counselor in the mostly Catholic Short Strandneighborhood near the Titanic project's site. Brennanwas imprisoned — but not charged — for IRA activity inthe 1970s. "When he says something, you can believehim, and that's something I can take back to mycommunity."

30,000 people detained

From 1969 until 1994, the period of Northern Ireland's"Troubles," about 30,000 paramilitary members weredetained or imprisoned, Douglas estimates. The mostlyCatholic Irish Republican Army, which called acease-fire in 1994, was fighting to unite the sixmostly Protestant counties of Northern Ireland withthe 26-county Republic of Ireland. Groups includingthe Ulster Defense Association, the Ulster VolunteerForce and the Red Hand Commandos, all mostlyProtestant, want Northern Ireland to remain within theUnited Kingdom.

The "loyalist" paramilitaries fought the IrishRepublican Army and sometimes one another overterritory and power. At times, all of the paramilitarygroups fought local police and the British army.

Now, the province of 1.6 million is being governedfrom London while Northern Ireland's political partiesawait talks aimed at establishing a local government.

Parties associated with Protestant hard-liners and theIRA finished first and second in races for the Britishparliament and for local government councils on May 5.

While unemployment across the province was 4.5% inJanuary, according to the UK's Northern IrelandBureau, the jobs boom has not been spread equally. InBelfast last year, joblessness was 22% in the poorestCatholic area and nearly 20% in a nearby Protestantghetto.

"The problem of ex-prisoners is an important onethat's been too much lost sight of," Douglas says."When they go looking for work is when the problemsstart."

Sid Trotter, an Ulster Defense Association (UDA)volunteer from County Fermanagh, left prison in 1993after serving six years for raising funds for theoutlawed group by shaking down construction sites. Heearned a sociology degree after leaving prison. ButTrotter, 43, says he has been trapped in a low-payingcommunity organizing job. Even driving a taxi is out;ex-prisoners can't be licensed.

Worse yet, he says, is that his daughter was rejectedfor a job with Northern Ireland's new police servicewhen a background check uncovered her father's record.

"I'll take responsibility for what I did, and I'll tryto live with the consequences," says Trotter, a brawnyman with Ulster's traditional symbol, a blood-redhand, tattooed on a bulky forearm. "But for ourchildren, where's the new beginning?"

Organized crime

Crimes such as robbery and money laundering havecontinued on both sides, even during the cease-fires.

In February, the Independent Monitoring Commission(IMC), which oversees weapons decommissioning,reported that the IRA was responsible for a $50million bank robbery in central Belfast last December,as well as several smaller holdups last year.

In April, Jim Gray, a former Ulster DefenseAssociation leader in East Belfast was charged withmoney laundering after police found about $29,000 inthe trunk of his car.

The IMC said Tuesday that the IRA is an organizedcrime group and that former Protestant paramilitaryfighters remain "active, violent and ruthless"criminals.

For some, crime is an extension of paramilitarycareers, says Andy Tyrie, 65, who led the UDA from1973 to 1988. "There may be a (political) reason to doit, but then the money goes in the pockets."

Putting former enemies to work on the same job sitesounds risky. With Titanic Quarter's leaders, Douglasis developing a "council of reference" in whichrespected members of both communities will overseehiring to ensure jobs are doled out fairly to targetgroups, including former prisoners. Such a council,Douglas says, could exclude former members ofparamilitaries most likely to cause trouble, such asthose with especially violent records.

Can such a plan work in a city thoroughly soaked inits history of sectarian bitterness and suspicion? IanAdamson, a Belfast City Council member and historianof Northern Ireland's Protestants, is optimistic.

"There always will be some that won't leave off(committing crimes), but I think the majority willonce they're shown something better," Adamson says.

"It's hard to know, though, until you truly try."Activists on the Republican side say they'reespecially hopeful the Titanic proposal will delivernew jobs for their community. Catholics, they note,found it difficult to get jobs in the old shipyard —or hang onto them when times were hard.

Ironically, Douglas says, the legacy of discriminationmay have left Catholics better prepared to grasp newopportunities.

"With the help of community organizations and theCatholic Church, they got training and qualificationsand many of them are ahead (of Protestant employmentcandidates)," Douglas says.

But in Belfast, politics is never far from thesurface.

Republicans, says Catholic job counselor Brennan,support good jobs for both communities. Good payingjobs for Protestants, Brennan says, will break downthat group's historic resistance to uniting with theRepublic of Ireland, where the economy is booming.

"They'll not resist the 'Celtic Tiger,' " he says,referring to an Irish economic boom that has drivenemployment levels and living standards to modernhighs.

From the Protestant side, the view is different. Goodjobs and peace in the neighborhoods, says UlsterVolunteer Force member Paul Hoey, 50, decreases anypossibility that Protestants would embrace politicalchange.

"We're not pushing matters, only defending ourcommunities and traditions," says Hoey, who describeshimself as a "player" in East Belfast street politics."Leave us alone, and you'll not even know that we're about."

Other performers include Will Smith, Bon Jovi, Dave Matthews Band,Stevie Wonder and P. Diddy in Philadelphia; Crosby, Stills and Nash,Lauren Hill and Brian Wilson in Berlin; Jamiroquai, Youssou N'Dour,Yannick Noah and Placebo in Paris; and Duran Duran in Rome.

Organisers said the Spice Girls would be invited to play, if theyreformed in time, quashing earlier rumours that they were not welcome.

Geldof, the driving force behind the Band Aid and Live Aid campaignsfor African famine relief said: "This is not Live Aid 2. Theseconcerts are the start point for The Long Walk To Justice, the one waywe can all make our voices heard in unison.

"This is without doubt a moment in history where ordinary people cangrasp the chance to achieve something truly monumental and demand fromthe eight world leaders at G8 an end to poverty.

"The G8 leaders have it within their power to alter history. They willonly have the will to do so if tens of thousands of people show themthat enough is enough.

Geldof said that, following the concerts, he wants a million people totake part in a protest in Edinburgh to coincide with G8 summit atGleneagles, Scotland, on July 6 and 8.

Organisers revealed there are plans for concerts in other G8countries, but did not give further details. Canada, Russia and Japanare the three other nations in the G8.

Getting tickets

Tickets for the LIVE 8 London concert in Hyde Park will be allocatedvia a text lottery. Each person that enters the lottery can obtain 2tickets each by texting a special number. The text number will beannounced at 8am on Monday 6 June 2005 via all UK Radio Stations & BBCTelevision.

Commuters travelling by train from Dublin to Galway got the frightof their lives when they saw a snake roaming loose from one carriageto another.

Passengers jumped up on to seats and tables as the snake slid alongafter escaping from the box in which a pet-shop owner was transportingit.

"There was complete panic. People were very frightened and they reallyfreaked out. It was an awful shock for us to get, I got the fright ofmy life," said one passenger.

"Someone noticed the snake on the floor and then the shouting started.People just tried to get away from the snake, because Irish peopleknow very little about snakes and I know I am very afraid of them."

Iarnród Éireann is investigating the incident which resulted in thetrain stopping for 20 minutes in Kildare station on Monday afternoon.

"The snake escaped from the box in which the pet-shop owner wascarrying it," said a spokesperson for Iarnród Éireann. "It made itsway into the next carriage where people noticed it.

"The owner secured the snake back in its box again and the trainstopped in Kildare to ensure that everything was okay. It is notagainst our bylaws to bring pets on trains provided they are safelysecured away, and don't cause annoyance or offence. We will beinvestigating it fully and the pet-shop owner is co-operating."